Some remarks concerning the rank of mapping tori and ascending HNN-extensions of Abelian groups. (Q429555)

Let \(G\) be a semidirect product of \(\mathbb Z^d\) by \(\mathbb Z\), via an automorphism \(A\in\mathrm{GL}_d(\mathbb Z)\). The rank of \(G\) is the minimum number of generators of \(G\), and \(\mathrm{OR}(A)\) is the minimal number of vectors whose \(A\)-orbits generate \(\mathbb Z^d\). Levitt and Metaftsis study the relationship between the rank of \(G\) and \(\mathrm{OR}(A)\). They show that the rank of \(G\) is equal to \(\mathrm{OR}(A)+1\). Levitt and Metaftsis also show that if \(\{G_n\}\) is the family of semidirect products of \(\mathbb Z^d\) by \(\mathbb Z\) via the automorphisms \(\{A^n\}\subset\mathrm{GL}_d(\mathbb Z)\), then for all sufficiently large \(n\) we have that the rank of \(G_n\) is greater than two. In particular, for all sufficiently large \(n\), we have that \(A^n\) is not conjugate to a companion matrix. In the note under review, the authors prove a local version of the previous result. Namely, they show that if \(A\) has a complex eigenvalue of infinite order and \(S\) is a finite set of primes, then for all primes \(p\notin S\) there are only finitely many \(n\) for which the reduction of \(A^n\) modulo \(p\) is conjugate to a companion matrix. Furthermore, the authors study the size of the set of integers \(n\) for which \(A^n\) is conjugate to a companion matrix, showing that the size depends only on the dimension \(d\).